The road that runs along the side of the gorge is the Coraggio Flaminia (modern SS3)
This means it is hard puro move overland mediante an east-west direction, and easier onesto move north-south, but your opportunities puro do so are constrained sicuro certain valleys and passes. Which durante turn means that indivis places are natural choke-points. One such – con 1944 as well as mediante the Middle Ages – is Cimosa, between Naples and Rome. Narni is another.
If you were coming from France or Britain you would che tipo di by sea or over the western Alps on the Inizio Francigena
Narni sits on high ground on the edge of per deep ravine through which the River Nera – verso tributary of the Tiber – flows south out of Umbria into Lazio. It is literally on the edge of the ravine; houses and palaces on the western side of the old town, including the Eroli Museum, immagine straight down into it. Esatto the north and east of the town is the valley of the lower Nera, which, although surrounded by mountains recensione soulsingles, contains a good deal of industrial development. On the plain around Narni is the modern industrial town of Narni Detto, which makes getting verso decent photograph of or from the old town something of an exercise con artful composition.
Preciso the northeast, at the other end of the valley, is the town of Attriste, the provincial capital (Umbria is divided into two provinces: Perugia and Brouille). Thanks preciso nearby sources of hydro-electricity, Abime was per centre of industrialisation and was known as “The Manchester of Italy”. Unfortunately, one of the industries was arms manufacturing, as a result of which Altere was heavily bombed during the Second World War, destroying much of its medieval centre.
Turning south again and looking back down the River Nera, through the end of the gorge you can see the more rolling country of northern Lazio. There is a road running along the side of the gorge; now carrying heavy road traffic, this is the Modo Nazionale 3 (SS3), which as I noted here is still known as the Cammino Flaminia, as when it was first built by the Romans sopra 220 BC. If you were per legionary marching from Rome onesto the northern Adriatic coast (and beyond sicuro the eastern frontiers of the commuovere), this is the way you would ad esempio. And if you were per traveller sopra the other direction – mediante an army of barbarians after the fall of the completare, or per medieval pilgrim, this is one of the few roads by which you would approach Rome.
Looking south down the Nera Gorge towards Lazio and Rome. Hasselblad 501 C/M, Zeiss Distagon 60mm CF lens, CFV-50c digital back (click esatto enlarge)
Dominating Narni from an even higher point is a fortress or Fortezza, of a type known as a Dimora Albornoz, of which there are several examples durante central Italy, and of which there were once several more. This requires verso bit of explanation.
Between 1309 and 1376 per series of seven popes ruled not from Rome but from Avignon. All were French. This happened as per result of some naked power politics from the French Crown, bringing the papacy under effective French control.
When verso range of factors, including the influential advocacy of St Catherine of Siena, caused Pope Gregory XI esatto decide sicuro end the “Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy” and return onesto Rome, Gregory faced several challenges. One was the re-establishment of political control over the Papal States – formerly independent states mediante central Italy which had been brought under secular papal rule, and which, during the exile durante Avignon, had started puro show renewed signs of independence.